


Second Chances

by sweet_fogarty



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Empire State University, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Harry is an idiot and likes alcohol, Identity Reveal, Kidnapping, Medium Burn, Mentions of Emotional Abuse, Mostly Fluff, Original Plot, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Previous Toxic Relationship, Rating May Change, University AU, aged up Peter parker, idiots to lovers, old feelings die hard, will get angsty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:14:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25885648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweet_fogarty/pseuds/sweet_fogarty
Summary: You've always had a crush on Peter Parker, but when University started and Peter went to MIT you thought you got over it. A year and a half later and turns out Peter is now attending ESU. Not only that but him and MJ are no longer together, he's in your biochem class, and he seems to be quite smitten with you.Things seem perfect, if only New York City wasn't as dangerous as it was. Too bad the big-bads of the world don't take into account your blissful obliviousness to Peter's recreational activities.
Relationships: Harry Osborn/Gwen Stacy, Michelle Jones/Original Female Character(s), Past Peter Parker/Liz Allan, Past Peter Parker/Michelle Jones, Peter Parker/Reader, Peter Parker/You
Comments: 5
Kudos: 30





	1. Broken Noses and Pretty Boys

February’s in New York City were brutal. Your skin burned from the cold winds, hair fluctuating between dampness and frozen from the harsh snowfall that you were currently walking through. 8am classes would be your end; the scalding coffee cup in your hand the only thing keeping you from keening over and letting nature take its course with you. You’d happily let yourself succumb to a harsh wintery death if it weren’t for your obnoxiously cheerful roommate, Gwen Stacy. 

Despite being one of those infuriating morning-people, Gwen was your best friend. She was kind and almost overly-compassionate - Gwen liked to mother-hen you, but most of all she was incredibly intelligent. Gwen was probably the smartest person you knew, safe for maybe one or two of the kids you’d gone to school with. Because of her wealth of knowledge and fantastically high IQ Gwen was majoring in science (she wasn’t quite sure what she wanted to specialize in) which meant daily 8am classes. 

If it weren’t for Gwen, you’d never make it to this class - a second-year biochemistry course; Gwen made sure you were up and on your way to class (with enough time to stop at the campus cafe beforehand) by 7:15am every Thursday morning, and god bless her for that.

You huffed as you sucked back an extra large gulp of the sugary latte in your hand - caffeine and sugar, what better breakfast was there? You were nearing closer to the Biology building, trying to avoid the shoulders and elbows being haphazardly flung in your direction by the students bustling around you. Up ahead you could see the sweet reprieve of the modern building, a triumphant smirk making its way onto your face as you picked up the pace, dry and numb from the cold hands clenching tighter around your cup.

“ _Woah there, Midtown_ ,” An annoyingly familiar voice interrupted you as you raced through the glass doors. Closing your eyes you held back a loud grown and pivoted towards the voice, eyes opening to meet the eyes of your ex-boyfriend’s roommate. 

William Gordon had been by far the biggest mistake of your first year - nay, your entire existence. Will was an asshole, and if it weren’t for the fact that he was your first ever boyfriend - the only boy that had ever paid any attention to you in a romantic, or sexual, manner - you would have dumped him a month into the entire relationship. But no, you’d stayed for nearly a whole year before the night he got completely plastered and started screaming that you were cheating on him, degrading you left right and center. You were a little tipsy yourself, which was probably where the confidence came from, and you’d kicked him out of your dorm room and locked the door behind him.

His roommate, Josh Prewett, however, was a different kind of pain in your ass. Josh just couldn’t take no for an answer. Even when you were dating his best friend Josh never, not once, ceased his advances, and now that you and Will were avoiding one another like the plague, it had only gotten ten times worse.

“What do you want, Josh?” You asked, disinterested, as you downed the remainder of your drink and chucked it in the garbage. Josh skipped to keep up with you, your pace fast and rushed, despite still being early to class. 

Josh grinned, an arm wrapping around your shoulders. When you shoved him off of you his smirk never left his face, “you busy tonight, Midtown? How ‘bout you and I finally ride out this connection? Whaddya say, huh? You, me, the Italian place on third?”

You scoffed, pulling open the door to your lecture hall as you looked Josh in the eye, “I would literally rather eat shit.” And with that, you slammed the door shut in his face, ignoring the curious gazes from your peers as you shuffled along to the back of the hall.

Third row from the top, center, aisle seat. This had been your informal assigned seat for the past month and a half and you grinned as you settled into the seat, pulling out your laptop and booting up your notes page as you watched the class file in, the teacher setting up at the front of the class.

The lecture went by relatively quickly considering it was spent reviewing and explaining the upcoming assignment due in two weeks. Gwen’s on-and-off boyfriend, Harry Osborn, was sleeping in the seat beside you, and while you kind of wanted to kick him in the shin to wake him up and force him to endure class with you, you left him. Better to actually pay attention to the explanation than have to deal with Harry talking your ear off for an hour and a half.

Harry was a genius but he was also ridiculously competitive. Gwen and Harry had gone to Standard High and that’s where their tense relationship had started. Gwen didn’t speak of it much, but they pretty much hated each other for the first three years of high school until the sexual tension became too much and they inevitably caved. They’d been somewhere between ridiculously in love and perpetual enemies ever since.

When your professor gave the all-clear to pack up and leave, you sighed and gave in to impulse, shoving your boot harshly into Harry’s shin and stifling a grin as he groaned through a yawn and glared at you.

“Gwen finishes class in twenty across campus,” you told him, packing up your laptop and putting away your notebook and pens, “if you go fast enough you can probably catch up and beg for forgiveness.”

That was all Harry needed, pushing to his feet and running out of the hall at an impressive speed. You snorted, shaking your head and, unlike most days, deciding to take your time as you packed up. A mop of brown hair was walking away from the professor, the next student approaching to ask their own set of questions as you slowly descended the stairs. You pushed your hands against your back, pushing into your spine as you cracked it before latching your thumbs around the straps of your backpack.

As you sent a text to Gwen you heard a familiar voice call out your name. Confused, you shoved your phone into your coat pocket and pivoted on your heel, eyes searching until they locked onto a pair of dark brown eyes.

Peter freaking Parker.

You couldn’t help your mouth dropping in surprise, a low gasp escaping as you moved towards the boy. You’d attended Midtown with Peter for all four years of high school, and while you were friendly and both on the Decathlon team together, you weren’t all that close. Sure, you spent the last two years of high school with the biggest crush on him, but Peter was always busy. Whether it be from his best friend Ned Leeds, the Stark internship he’d gotten in sophomore year (or was it freshman?) or his relationship with either Liz Allan or Michelle Jones.

His relationship with Liz had been rather fleeting, ending when the older girl moved away when her father was imprisoned for being some super-villain. After the blip apparently Peter had realized his undying feelings for his friend, MJ, and had spent their summer Europe trip winning the girl over. You liked MJ, she was cool and suave and extremely beautiful, and even though you were jealous and heartbroken, you couldn’t find it in yourself to be spiteful. They’d lasted a year or so but when MJ decided to travel after school she and Peter had a clean split, and from what you could see from her Instagram page, MJ now had a super cute girlfriend.

“P-Peter?” You asked, incredulous and mentally berated yourself for stumbling over your words, “Since when are you in this class? Actually, since when do you go to _ESU_?”

“Hey,” he greeted with a small smile, his voice caressing your name with a strange sort of softness. He had his hands buried deep in his jeans, a tweed peacoat done up nicely around his torso. His hair was poking out from beneath a red toque and you held back a smile at the brown curls. A slight blush coated his cheeks as he rolled back on his heels and met your eyes, “I transferred from MIT at the beginning of the semester, I sit at the front and usually don’t stay after class so that’s why you probably haven’t noticed me.”

“Oh,” you answered but you couldn’t hold back the large grin from your face. It seemed even after almost two years you still couldn’t stop the butterflies. But could anyone blame you? This boy was the epitome of adorable, and if he hadn’t been handsome before it seems college has only treated him well. You went to continue but were interrupted by your phone vibrating.

**FROM: GWEN**

SOS Harry slipped on ice and broke his nose, we’re at the apartment and he refuses to go to the hospital. He’s currently nursing a bottle of tequila while his nose bleeds out all over our poor couch! :(

You grumbled, shooting back a message quickly before looking back up to Peter’s eyes. “I have to go.”

Your heart nearly broke when his smile fell and his eyes lost the spark they’d held previously. Biting down on your lip you hesitantly continued, “Uh - are you, um, busy Saturday morning?”

Peter’s eyes widened comically, the grin returning, “No, nope! Uh totally clear, nothing on the schedule. I’m - uh, yeah I’m free.”

Your smile widened as he looked down and winced slightly, his cheeks brightening with that cute rose colour. “Awesome, do you maybe want to meet up at that coffee shop down the street? Catch up a bit? We can work on the assignment too if you want?”

“Yes! I’d love that! Totally!” Peter exclaimed and you giggled, nodding and passing him your phone. His eyes widened once again, “You want my - my number? Yeah for sure, yes.” He murmured as he punched in the digits and handed the phone back.

Grinning you bid him a quick goodbye and barrelled out the door to go help Gwen and Harry, who were no doubt yelling at one another. 

Later that afternoon, after prying Harry’s hands from your bottle of tequila, very aggressively re-setting his broken nose, and cleaning up his blood, you sat on the couch with your two friends. Gwen and Harry had made-up and Harry was laying across the majority of the sectional, his feet pushing into your thigh with his head on Gwen’s lap, snoring. Gwen was watching the tv, absentmindedly brushing her fingers through Harry’s hair.

You smiled, pulling your phone out and opening the new contact,

**TO: PETER PARKER**

Hey Peter! Can’t wait to see you on Saturday! :)

You signed off with your name before turning your phone off and letting daydreams of cute curly-haired boys and quiet cafes lull you to sleep.


	2. The Coffee Bean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: emotional abuse, demeaning names, mentions of near-death experiences

**FROM: PETER PARKER**

Hey! Hope you’re having a good morning :) 

**FROM: YOU**

Morning, Peter! Nothing a little coffee can’t fix :), how was your night?

**FROM: PETER PARKER**

Oh the miracles of coffee!

**FROM: PETER PARKER**

Um busy, got held up with my Internship for most of the night

**FROM: YOU**

Internship? I didn’t know you were still doing that. You know, after everything that happened

_Seen at 11:33am_

**FROM: YOU**

I’m sorry that was really insensitive. I know you and Mr. Stark were really close, I just didn’t know you had continued it after graduation.

_Delivered at 12:28pm_

***

**FROM: PETER PARKER**

Hey, it’s okay, no harm done. It was really hard going back after Mr. Stark passed away, I took some time off but ultimately realized that it was where I needed to be. Ms. Potts is a really awesome boss! 

**FROM: PETER PARKER**

Sorry for taking so long to respond, by the way, I was in the middle of a physics midterm!

_Delivered at 1:42pm_

***

**FROM: YOU**

Okay you hold up just a second Mr. Parker

**FROM: YOU**

You mean to tell me you’ve been attending ESU for almost two whole months and you’ve *never* been to one of *the* Harry Osborn’s parties???????

**FROM: PETER PARKER**

Not all of us are popular enough to be friends with the son of Norman Osborn. Don’t you need a super special invitation to one of those anyways?

**FROM: YOU**

Ugh Harry’s a loser, he’s not that special. His parties are all open invite because he likes free booze - the invites were a rumour Flash spread around because Harry kicked him out.

**FROM: PETER PARKER**

HE KICKED FLASH OUT??

**FROM: YOU**

Oh yeah, that’s what happens when you flirt with the love of Harry’s life at one of his own parties. Poor kid, never seen him so embarrassed. 

**FROM: YOU**

…

**FROM: YOU**

Except for maybe that time in senior year when you finally stood up for yourself. Punching that little shit in the nose? Best day of my life.

**FROM: PETER PARKER**

Oh god, I remember that. Aunt May grounded me for a whole month after that incident.

**FROM: YOU**

Was it worth it though?

**FROM: PETER PARKER**

Well from what I can remember, you couldn’t help but crack up laughing every time you saw me for the rest of the year.

**FROM: PETER PARKER**

So, yeah. Definitely worth it.

***

You’d spent the whole day Friday texting back and forth with Peter. It was mostly small talk, shared memories and some nostalgia thrown in, but as far as you were concerned it was the most enthralling conversation you’d ever had. Gwen had threatened to flush your phone down the toilet after you’d spent an hour of your designated study-time smiling down at your phone dreamily.

Your day had quickly gone from blissful to bottom of the barrel quite quickly, however, when Will stumbled into the pizza joint you, Gwen and Harry were eating dinner at. You tried to be the bigger person, and instead of immediately leaving, just acted unaware, threw a small nod of acknowledgement his way, and continued on with your night.

Despite being a little shaken from seeing your ass of an ex, he hadn’t made a move to speak to you so you and your two friends had continued on with your dinner, chastising Harry when he started drinking extremely expensive whiskey out of his dad’s silver flask, and ultimately heading home at around ten to get some shut-eye.

You’d managed to be in bed, asleep, by eleven-thirty which was a serious win because you and Peter planned on meeting up at the _Coffee Bean_ at ten which meant you’d be able to sneak in a full eight hours plus have time to pick a nice outfit, do your hair and maybe even a little makeup. And as the hours passed it seemed like everything was working in your favour, until your phone blared a loud pop song at three in the morning, waking you up from your dream-state.

You had shot up like a jack-in-the-box, not even checking the caller I.D. before you swiped to answer, _“Hello?”_

“ _Baby!_ ” Will had slurred loudly in your ear, followed by a loud exclamation of your name and you groaned, “ _I’ve been thinking, we really need to meet up and talk you know? For some closing. Closing? Closet? What’s that word?”_

“ _Closure?”_

 _“Yeah! Yeah, closure! You’re so smart baby,"_ Will cooed, and you bit down harshly on your lip to keep from crying. You were so tired, and you wanted today to be perfect and not even three hours in you were dealing with this bullshit. “ _A_ _nd_ maybe _after we get some closure we can have some of that hot makeup sex everyone’s always talking about. Whaddya say baby, let’s get some breakfast in a few hours, yeah?”_

_“Will, no, I’m busy. And I don’t want to.”_

_“Nah baby, that’s not what I want to hear. You can do your homework later, okay?”_

_“No, Will, I’m meeting up with an old friend, okay?_ ” And it was then that Will had snapped, his previous doe-eyed demeanour wiped away with your admission. You could feel the shift even through the phone and huddled deeper into your pile of blankets.

“ _You’re such a little fucking slut,_ ” Will spat out, taunting as he called your name, “ _little whore can’t handle a man so she goes running to the next best thing. What do you think someone from Midtown can handle you better than me? You’re a fucking useless waste of space, okay? You should be begging me for my attention you fucking bitch_.”

You’d hung up then, tears in your eyes as you tried to force yourself back to sleep. Your night was fitful after that, waking up when your phone vibrated with another demeaning text message from the asshole. When you finally managed to fall asleep, you’d slept through all your alarms, only waking up from Gwen yelling that you were going to be late.

Which led to now, you hurrying through the onslaught of rushing twenty-year-olds as you flew through the doors of the Coffee Bean, eyes scanning frantically before they landed on Peter, who looked to be holding in a laugh at your state. You sighed, sliding into the booth across from him and leaning your head against the cushion.

“I’m so sorry I’m late, Peter,” You rushed out, rubbing your hands over your face before finally making eye contact with him. He had a small smile on his face, top teeth biting down on his lips slightly as he looked at you. He was clearly amused but you didn’t have it in you for a snarky retort. Instead, Peter shook his head and pushed a mug your way.

“Here,” he said with a smile, “I didn’t know what you like so I went for the tastiest looking thing on the menu.”

You could’ve cried, and when you took a sip you swore a tear dropped because _damn_ that was the best-tasting thing you’d ever had, “Oh, Peter, you’re so sweet. This is amazing, thank you.”

“Of course,” Peter replied with a smile as you took another big gulp of the warm beverage, “rough night?”

You looked up at his concerned face and decided not to brush over it, something about the look in his eyes telling you he actually cared. “Yeah, my ex called me at 3 am, drunk. He was an asshole when we dated but I was kind of desperate, anyways he was always emotionally...toxic or, _whatever_. He got very angry with me last night and then wouldn’t stop texting me for the rest of the night.”

“Are you safe?” Was what Peter asked and when you met his eyes you could tell he seemed very upset, angry even. You nodded, thanking him for his concern as you unzipped your coat and tugged it off. Peter sputtered, eyes wide as he looked at your shirt, “you a fan?”

You looked down, eyes-catching on the black long-sleeved shirt you wore with the familiar red Spiderman logo on the front of it. You blushed, pushing a strand of hair behind your ear, “Something like that.”

Peter’s eyebrows rose even more in question, urging you to explain and you giggled slightly in embarrassment before conceding. “Okay, well in high school my mom and I were walking home from the grocery store and I decided to run across the street without waiting for the light to turn -”

“ _Tsk_ , who knew you were such a rule breaker?”

“ _Anyways_ ,” you said pointedly, though the smile on your face gave away your amusement and Peter laughed, eyes twinkling, “this car came speeding down the street and I just kind of, froze, I guess. Spiderman must’ve been in the area because he whisked me out of the way - or I guess, _webbed me_ -"

“ _Ha_ , original!”

“Do you always interrupt when people tell you stories?” He held up his hands in surrender and the two of you laughed, “I was petrified for a whole week afterwards, scared to even leave the house. My mom figured it was more psychological trauma from the blip so she decided to take things into her own hands. Next thing I know she and dad are in front of me, giving me this shirt and telling me to wear it whenever I’m scared or I feel unsafe. To remember I always have someone watching over me.”

Peter’s snarking had subsided and he was looking at you with this look in his eyes that you couldn’t quite decipher, something between awe, remembrance, and adoration. He didn’t say anything for a second too long and you tugged at the sleeves of your shirt self-consciously, “It’s silly, I know, it’s just. I don’t know, I got freaked last night and put it on, then I was late and forgot to change out of it.”

“No, no!” Peter exclaimed and you froze, eyes wide as his hands grabbed yours lightly, your eyes darting up to his once again, “I think that’s a really nice thought, and it’s true. I mean, I’ve only met the guy a few times but you know, Spiderman, he uh, he really cares about everyone in the city.”

You smiled, squeezing his hands with your fingertips and nodding slightly. Peter matched your smile with a wide grin and moved on of his hands to cup his mug, the other staying firmly clasped in yours. He looked down, blushing before looking back up at you, “besides I think you look really cute in that shirt.”


	3. New Developments

For the next month, you and Peter continued to grab coffee together on Saturday mornings. And after class on Thursdays. And sometimes on Tuesdays after you finished getting tutored by an extremely reluctant Harry. You still sat in your usual seat during class, and usually, Peter tended to stick to his spot up front, the seat beside you almost constantly filled by a sleeping (or extremely annoyed) Harry. One time, though, Harry had decided to not grace the class with his presence, and Peter had nonchalantly slipped in beside you where Harry would usually sit.

The two of you hadn’t really acknowledged it, and while you loved Peter’s company, you quickly realized that there was no way you could make this a habit. Peter was far too distracting, and not in the way that Harry was. No, Peter was hyper-focused the entire lecture, though it looked like he was writing notes for a personal project of his and not what the professor was teaching. You, however, kept getting distracted by Peter’s face - his eyebrows would scrunch up in concentration, lips pursed and if he messed up an equation his tongue would dart out between his lips as he erased his paper.

Needless to say, you definitely needed to revise and teach yourself the lesson once you got back to your apartment.

Now though, you and Peter were at the Coffee Bean, sitting on one of the old couches pushed against a large window. A coffee table was in front of you where yours and Peter’s hour-old mugs of coffee (Peter drank Americanos with an obscene amount of white mocha syrup and an extra two shots of espresso) and empty plates sat alongside your open laptop and yours and Peter’s notebooks and papers scattered across the table in disarray.

You were seated cross-legged on the couch, body facing straight ahead towards the table with your textbook opened and resting across your lap. Peter’s body was angled towards you, one leg propped up on the couch while the other was planted on the floor; his left arm was resting along the back of the couch behind you (which you’d quickly gotten used to during your weekly coffee hangouts because apparently Peter was a very touchy person) and his right was reaching across your body to point at diagrams in the textbook.

He was explaining one of the concepts you’d learned in class this week, as you were having a lot of trouble grasping it, but much like that time he sat beside you during class, you could not focus. Peter was very animated as he spoke, hands flying around to help him emphasize his explanation, and while you desperately wanted to pay attention you found yourself getting distracted by his face. Again. Your head was facing the textbook but had turned ever so slightly to face him, and your eyes were watching his face. Everything he was saying was going in one ear and out the other, but a smile was on your face as you watched how worked up he got over the problem. Your eyes kept flitting to his lips before darting back up to examine the rest of his face.

Hours could have passed and you wouldn’t have noticed but then Peter was turning his face towards yours and suddenly you realized just how close your faces were. Peter’s nose bumped into yours and he managed to catch you looking at his mouth. A small smirk flitted across his face and you expected him to move back but instead his eyes darted to where your bottom lip was being tugged between your two front teeth.

You could feel the butterflies swirling in your stomach as you and Peter sat there, a hair’s breadth away eyes on one another’s lips. Peter’s hand had moved from where it was on the textbook and was now resting on your thigh, fingers tangled with your own, and his hand from behind you had moved to tug and play with the ends of your hair on your back. Swallowing, you raised your eyes from his mouth to his eyes, where they were already waiting and you bit down on your lip again, head turning upwards slightly to bump your nose against his. 

Peter smiled and looked back down towards your lips, your breath hitching as he began to lean in ever so slightly. His lips barely grazed your own, you could only just feel his breath on your lips, when a loud exclamation of Peter’s name occurred (well, not really his name but still).

“Penis Parker!” Flash fucking Thompson was so going to feel your wrath next time you saw him alone, you decided as you and Peter jumped apart. Flash sauntered forward with an annoyed looking Gwen, whose hands were being held tightly by an extremely pissed looking Harry. Yeah, Harry hates the kid, and you couldn’t blame him because right now you swore you could murder that little shit.

Peter cleared his throat awkwardly, gaze bashful as his arm that was along the couch reached up to rub the back of his neck, “Uh hey Flash.”

“Oh and if it isn’t little miss loner,” Flash sang reaching across the coffee table to try and touch you. You almost growled, hand smacking his away from where it was reaching for your face. “Oo someone’s touchy.”

“What do you want, Flash?” You asked eyes narrowed before they flitted towards your friends. Gwen looked apologetic but you knew Harry was just glad he wasn’t suffering alone. Gwen, despite disliking Flash, had a lot of her classes with him and felt bad that he didn’t have many friends here. You laughed when she told you that, but Gwen wasn’t as amused.

“What, I can’t just say hi to my fellow Midtownians?” He asked but from the tone of his voice, you could tell he was stirring up trouble. “So, are you two lovebirds going to the party next Friday?”

And there it was. You rolled your eyes, sharing an exasperated look with Harry. One of the frat houses on campus (barf) was throwing their annual rager at the end of the week - there were five frats at Empire State and they each had a designated month where they would throw a huge party for the students. You usually got dragged along by Harry (and Gwen, though she wasn’t as insistent and only went to let loose and keep an eye on her boyfriend) and hated your time with a passion. Drunk frat boys who didn’t have an inkling of personal space or the word ‘no’ wasn’t really your cup of tea.

“Of course they are,” Harry cut in, voice brisk and venomous as he stared down the back of Flash’s head. Peter jerked his head towards you, confused because clearly he wasn’t planning on going. You gave him a semi-apologetic look and mouthed that you’d explain later to which he nodded. “Why Flash, were you not invited?”

Flash scoffed but looked mildly embarrassed and after a few more minutes of mocking and taunting he left, accompanied by Gwen and Harry who had plans to go back to Harry’s apartment for brunch (rich kid things). Peter turned towards you, and though you felt slightly awkward about the moment you’d shared before being interrupted, you were glad there was no weird tension and smiled at him.

“Since when am I going to a frat party?” Peter asked, his voice teasing as he raised an eyebrow. You giggled softly and shrugged, “Harry always drags Gwen and me along and he hates Flash with a burning passion. Harry already told me he sees you as an extension of me so he probably just assumed you were going, you don’t have to if you don’t want to though.”

“An extension of you?” Peter asked laughing and you joined in, shaking your head.

“Harry’s super smart, but he’s not always all there.” You explained with a playful roll of your eyes and Peter continued to laugh. You smiled, hands toying with the hem of your shirt. You hadn’t really thought about it but now that you did, you really wanted Peter to come to the party - if not so that you wouldn’t be alone, then because you enjoyed his company. “Do you think you’re going to come?”

“Do you want me to?” Peter asked, voice an octave lower as if he were nervous you’d say no. You met his eyes, noticing the blush on his cheeks and nodded before your eyes darted back down to your hands. That was definitely way too eager, and you could feel the heat in your cheeks. “I’d really like to go - uh like, with you. I’d like to go  _ with you _ .”

“Yeah?” You asked, eyes locked on his and you couldn’t help the wide grin as he nodded. The words slipped out without even thinking, “It’s a date then.”

Your eyes widened comically and you went to backpedal but Peter’s grin rivalled your own as he spoke more confidently, “Yeah, it’s a date.”

**

Gwen had practically assaulted you by the time you came home to your apartment around dinnertime. You’d barely made it into the door before she squealed loudly. Eyes wide you looked at her, sitting on top of the kitchen island and wiggling in an excited dance as she stared at you.

“Um, what?” You asked, kicking off your shoes and dropping your backpack onto the ground before turning around to lock the door.

“You and Peter!” She basically screamed, jumping off the counter and wrapping you up in a hug, your body pressed tightly against her slender frame. You laughed, deducting that Gwen probably had one too many mimosas at her brunch with Harry (she deserved it though, that girl worked way too hard). “C’mon I saw you guys at the bean - you guys kissed!”

“Okay, no,” You corrected, pulling back and accepting the plate from Gwen’s hands (she’d ordered pizza before you got home). You hopped onto the counter, crossing your legs and facing where Gwen sat to your left. “We  _ almost _ kissed, so close, until Flash very rudely interrupted.”

“I’ll kill him,” Gwen said seriously, and you knew she would. Gwen had been rooting for you and Peter since the night after you’d reconnected, where you’d told her and Harry about him being in your class and how you’d had a huge crush on him during high school. “He ruins everything. I’m sure Harry’ll help, too.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt he would, though I doubt Harry needs a reason to kill Flash.” You joked and Gwen nodded, rolling her eyes. You bit down on your lip and smiled, “But let’s not kill him just yet because now I have a date with Peter.”

“YOU  _ WHAT _ ?”

“Yeah, we’re gonna go to the party together, as a date.” You explained and blushed a deep rose as you bit into your pizza, moaning at the flavour. Gwen squealed loud and high pitched and you grimaced as you thought about your neighbours.

You and Gwen spent the rest of the night eating pizza and gossiping about your date with Peter - Gwen daydreamed about double dates and beamed about yours and Peter’s future children and you laughed along, enjoying the night with your best friend. At around nine Harry knocked on the door and you let him in with a smile.

Judging by the look on his face he’d had a bad time with his parents and had probably gotten into another fight with his father, so Gwen shoved pizza in his hands and booted up the TV with some mindless sitcoms. As the three of you ate and watched TV you felt your phone vibrate against your thigh.

**FROM: PETER PARKER**

Are we still on for coffee tuesday? Or does that breach the ‘we have a date’ contract?

**TO: PETER PARKER**

I think we can make an exception - coffee tuesday for sure, but then you don’t get to see me until Friday. Otherwise it’s bad luck.

**FROM: PETER PARKER**

Isn’t that for weddings?

You laughed under your breath and typed out a response before resting your head against the cushion and let sleep take over.


End file.
